Disclaimer: The characters are Rowling's, the plot is mine...
Cho looked at herself in the gold gilded mirror and sighed. Here she was, single and unhappy, dressed in the pink cocktail dress that she had made for her for Harry's wedding. HER Harry's wedding. She still couldn't believe that this was really going to happen to her. Cho Chang, the most popular girl in Ravenclaw, was going to attend her ex-boyfriends wedding as a bridesmaid and smile her phony smile as her Harry married that redhead. She couldn't let this happen to her, she had already sunk into depression when her first love had died.
Her eyes hardened as she continued to stare at herself. No, she thought to herself, this time she won't let anyone take the person she loved away from her again. She never wanted her and Harry to separate. She only let it happen because she thought that it was just a temporary arrangement. Then with Voldemort officially back in the sixth year she was too worried about her parents to try to even fix their relationship.
Reflecting back, a specific scene replayed in her head which easily brought tears to her eyes.
She was walking beside the lake, worrying about the outside world and imagining all kinds of worst case scenarios of what she might see once back in their house. Visions of the dark mark hovering above her house haunted her minds eye. Then the tinkling of carefree laughter broke her train of thought. Her eyes automatically roamed around her to discover where the laughing was coming from. They came to rest on a particularly happy couple sitting on a checkered sheet, feeding each other small cupcakes. Her heart felt like it had been stopped as she just continued to gape at them. Harry and Ginny.
'No!' she had thought then, 'That couldn't be them.
'
But it was. Cho studied Harry's face and she had a painful realization. Harry looked so happy. He was happier than he had ever been when they had been together .His green eyes sparkled and his lips were curved in a loving smile. Ginny, on the other hand, looked like all her dreams had come true while Cho felt that all of hers had just been shattered.
They talked and laughed and fed each other cakes and cream poufs from the small basket lain by their feet. Ginny occasionally threw bread to the Giant Squid, which grabbed them from the surface with its tentacles and gobbled them up gratefully.
Cho was about to leave. She had seen too much for her heart to take and she needed to be away from it right away. She had been holding on this small hope that Harry was moping and aching for her to be back again only to realize that he had been enjoying himself, having picnics with Ginny by the lake and never giving her another thought. It felt like dying. Cho began to turn away as she held her small fist against her chest when something happened that made her heart die right at that moment.
Harry lifted a small chocolate cake and pressed it against Ginny's lips. Then without warning, he leaned over and kissed Ginny sweetly. Running his hands through her hair as Ginny's eyes, which had widened in surprise, closed in contentment.
Cho felt her throat stricken. She started crying then but she didn't notice. She turned and ran away, as far away as she could from Harry and Ginny, until her legs gave out under her. Then she could only sob till her shoulders shook and her eyes ached.
The present Cho held back her tears, afraid to ruin the makeup she had just applied. She dabbed her eyes with a white linen handkerchief. She stood up and gave a big inhale. Something flamed in her at the memory of that one hope-shattering kiss.
She was still going to Harry's wedding. But this time, she wasn't going to just stand there dumbly as she watched the man she loved get married to someone else, unlike the Cho she had just seen again. This time she decided that things will end up very different from that.
A/N: This is my first fanfic so it may not be very good. I just got the idea of what Cho might have felt through it all and I just started typing. Continuation of the story depends on reviews. Thanks for reading!
